Overview: Peru

During COVID-19, the Peruvian government has approved transitory regulations that, by making the management of labor relations more flexible, have allowed the continuity of labor relationships. For example, the Emergency Decree extraordinarily allows employers to apply leave without payment to its employees, provided that it is approved by the Ministry of Labor. In addition, regulations for remote work have been issued, which have allowed employers to vary form face-to-face provision of services to home office, with a less rigid regulation than that of telework, which already existed in our legislation.

In any case, this flexibility has a temporary scope. Labor relations in Peru are mainly ruled by the provisions contained in the Labor Productivity and Competitiveness Law and by the labor case law. Peruvian labor laws and, above all, labor case law, have quite a protectionist slant toward employees. For example, according to Peruvian legislation, temporary hiring is an exception and, as such, it has various requirements for its validity, which are also strictly controlled by the authorities. In addition, the constitutional case law has determined that an employee can request his or her replacement in the event of an unjustified dismissal.